Gigi Hadid and Zayn Malik’s Vogue Cover Sparked a Conversation About Gender Fluidity
Gigi Hadid and Zayn Malik have been total #couplegoals since they made their relationship red carpet official (to nearly every celeb-loving fan’s delight) after she first wooed him with an awkward one-liner. We’ve spent the past year basking in their love, and now the stars are sharing more details about their relationship in Vogue.
“I shop in your closet all the time, don’t I?” 22-year-old Hadid asked 24-year-old Malik during a recent interview they did *together* for Vogue’s August issue. And the wardrobe raids go both ways.
“Yeah, but same,” Malik replied to Hadid’s question, adding, “What was that [Anna Sui] T-shirt I borrowed the other day?… I like that shirt. And if it’s tight on me, so what? It doesn’t matter if it was made for a girl.” Hadid agreed, confirming, “Totally. It’s not about gender. It’s about, like, shapes. And what feels good on you that day. And anyway, it’s fun to experiment.”
They may be having fun, but readers weren’t so keen on Vogue using the term “gender fluid” to describe people occasionally swapping items of clothing. (As Ruby Rose explained in an interview with Elle, “Gender fluidity is not really feeling like you’re at one end of the spectrum or the other.”)
Zayn and Gigi are profiled in this piece on gender fluidity because… they borrow each other's clothes sometimes? https://t.co/ItswHOaBUd
— Hannah Orenstein (@hannahorens) July 13, 2017
yes hello police, Gigi Hadid wore pants last week and now vogue is calling her a gender fluid icon pic.twitter.com/HnSZjr2JgS
— Max Lakin (@maxlakin) July 13, 2017
"only ppl who are grounded in normative standards of beauty + gender can be gender fluid, which is 'experimenting' btw" – vogue, probably
— boom shakalaka (@millennialista) July 13, 2017
the shoot is cute but zayn wearing tight tshirts and gigi wearing a suit isnt revolutionary in any way vogue rly tried it tho
— mahtab!! (@zarvelcomics) July 13, 2017
But at least one person had a suggestion for how to address the situation:
straight cis couple shares clothes, Vogue declares them gender fluid. Teen Vogue is gonna have to clean this one up for Mama Vogue. pic.twitter.com/0VdVKadBbq
— Molly Priddy (@mollypriddy) July 13, 2017
Vogue has since apologized for its choice of words with a statement to Fashionista that reads as follows: “The story was intended to highlight the impact the gender-fluid, non-binary communities have had on fashion and culture. We are very sorry the story did not correctly reflect that spirit — we missed the mark, we do look forward to continuing the conversation with greater sensitivity.”
What do you think of Gigi Hadid and Zayn Malik’s Vogue cover? Let us know @BritandCo.
(h/t Vogue; photo via Pascal Le Segretain/Getty)
